Essence of Thanksgiving

Lowell senior catches first TD pass on his way to the Marines

LOWELL -- The first touchdown by Lowell in its 36-23 victory over Haverhill on Thursday was the first varsity touchdown catch by a senior wide receiver playing his last-ever football game.

"There is no greater feeling. I'm speechless," said Ricky Rosado, his emotions baring the essence of Thanksgiving morning football. "I'm never playing football again."

Rosado has enlisted in the Marine Corps. His senior season was interrupted by a knee injury that cost him four precious football games. In his first game back on Oct. 20, Rosado did recover a fumble and run for a touchdown in Lowell's 56-34 victory over Billerica. But his 24-yard catch for an 8-3 Lowell lead with 8:18 left in the first half on Thursday at Cawley Stadium was the 5-foot-9, 150-pound Rosado's first varsity touchdown reception. His forever football highlight.

"I think the day after graduation he goes (to basic training)," said Lowell coach John Florence. "He's going to become a an adult really quick."

Rosado epitomizes the perseverance of the 2012 Red Raiders, especially the seniors who as freshmen finished 2-9 and have played for three head coaches.

"We've been building and building ... getting more wins ... and coming together as a family," said senior quarterback Cam Latta about Lowell's climb from 2-9 to 5-6 to 6-5 to Thursday claiming its first share of a Merrimack Valley Conference title since 2006 and reaching nine victories for the first time since 1998.

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Thirteen days earlier against Chelmsford, Latta had suffered a slight MCL tear and "on Monday it didn't look great that he would play (against Haverhill)," said Florence.

"It was going to be my last high school (football) game," said Latta. "I was going to suck it up no matter what."

Latta played, all right. He completed 15 of 26 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns -- giving him a school-record 25 TD passes for the season, eclipsing R.J. Noel's mark of 22 set last season -- as Lowell defeated Haverhill for the fifth straight year to lead this Thanksgiving series 12-3. (There is talk of Lawrence possibly returning to the Red Raiders' holiday menu next year.)

Up the road, Andover's 22-19 victory over Central Catholic left those two teams and Lowell tied at 3-1 atop MVC Division 1, but with Andover reigning supreme in the tiebreaker for the league's MIAA Division 1 playoff spot.

"We were 2-9 our freshman year. Now we're 9-2. We turned it all the way around," said Peter Balas, the center on Lowell's outstanding all-senior offensive line. As that line did when Lowell on Nov. 2 handed 10-1 Andover its only loss, it asserted itself Thursday whenever the Red Raiders seemed in danger of losing their grip on the game. Running behind Balas, Cal Vail, Andres Bolivar, Matt Vigeant and Nick Healy, sophomore Shyheim Cullen had 76 yards and one touchdown on nine carries, and junior Ngaiiva Mason 84 yards and one touchdown on 25 carries.

"I'm not trying to brag or anything, (but) this year they rode us a lot," said Vail, the 6-foot-4, 294-pound senior who has plenty of football ahead of him.

Meanwhile, Lowell's defense hounded Haverhill 2,000-yard rusher Chance Brady, who did rush for 119 yards and one touchdown, but needed 25 carries to do so. His longest run was his final run, a 31-yard scamper with 2:13 left. Brady was injured on the play and left the game.

"We just had this mindset to attack," said Lowell junior defensive end Alex Quintero. "We wanted to go out 9-2. It feels amazing."

The Red Raiders early in the second quarter pressured Haverhill quarterback Tommy Morgan into intentional grounding from his own end zone for a safety, cutting Haverhill's lead to 3-2, and eventually intercepted Morgan three times (Alex Kasirye, Keagan Latta, Mike Holder).

After Rosado's TD put Lowell up 8-3, Haverhill (8-3) responded with a 40-yard TD pass from Morgan to John Ramsdell to go up 9-8.

The Red Raiders on their subsequent drive went ahead for good on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Latta to Kasirye with 3:04 left in the first half. A 14-yard touchdown run by Cullen with 48 seconds left in the half upped Lowell's lead to 23-9.

A 9-yard TD reception by Haverhill's Jordan Javier on the opening drive of the second half cut Lowell's lead to 23-16.

But a 2-yard TD run by Mason on Lowell's subsequent drive, and then an 18-yard TD catch by junior Jack Galvin, made it 36-16 with 11:36 to play. Galvin had eight catches for 83 yards, including that TD catch, his 10th of the season.

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